Otobong Sampson
“Water no get enemy” is a Fela Anikulapo Kuti timeless classic that came in his 1975 album — Expensive Shit. The underlying message in its lyrics is the essentiality of water to human life. Since water is too important to existence, no one can afford to be its enemy.
On Wednesday November 13th, Governor Umo Eno joined the people of Ogu, Itu Mbonuso in Local Government Area in celebration of a breakthrough project. It is a solar-powered water project with a treatment plant and reticulation system that feeds six villages including a health center. The project is one of 12 similar water initiatives currently underway across the state.
Water reticulation project is not a borehole. It is a huge project. Some water projects are so massive that they cost hundreds of millions of naira, and even billions to execute. In 2020, four years ago, Rivers State Government put the cost of a proposed Port Harcourt Water and Sanitation Project at $328 million (which was approximately 127.2 billion naira at the exchange rate of that time). The state was to contribute $48million to the project while World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) were to contribute $80 million and $200 million respectively. It is instructive to note that the said project involved the rehabilitation and upgrading of existing water facilities in Port Harcourt and Obio/Okpor local government areas only.
For those in blessed terrains – on a low plain who can easily access water through regular boreholes, and for others in urban centres who are rich enough to afford purified bottled water, what happened in Ogu should not be celebrated. Not so for the people of the affected communities who for many years were drinking coloured water with attendant health risks. They were without safe water for several decades.
Those years were nightmarish for Ogu people particularly and the other villages as they constantly battled with various health issues that were water related. According to the clan head of Itu Mbonuso, High Priest Joshua Iseh, having lived for more than 80years, he has had to watch painfully and helplessly as his people died for lack of access to portable water. For him, it is a huge relief that the project has happened in his lifetime.
Unarguably, there is no person better placed to understand the anguish of those years — and as well feel the joy of today than the traditional leaders of these communities and their people who have lived almost all their lives there.
Ogu village, primary host of the water project is entirely covered with limestone. Previous efforts to drill a borehole didn’t yield fruit. Not even one. Consequently and in resignation to fate, the people either had to settle for the unsafe water that was available or travel long distances for in their search for decent water. Temporary reprieve would always come when the rains came, but rain water is not without impurities.
The few flaks about Governor Eno’s presence in Ogu to personally commission this deeply significant and health-improving project are — what they are — uninformed.
During the campaigns for election, Pastor Eno had visited the area to solicit for votes. He was told of their predicament. Water, portable water was the most pressing need of the community. There was a pact, unwritten, but documented in the heart. Votes for water. The people trusted him and on Wednesday, the governor went back to repay their trust in full. That is how to be honourable in words and works.
If Ogu was important for the candidate, Pastor Umo Eno, why should it be less important for him now as Governor? Beyond mirroring his administration’s continued commitment to addressing the socio-economic needs of rural communities and prioritizing the wellbeing of rural dwellers, the governor’s physical presence to commission the water project proves the deep bond he has conscientiously created with Akwa Ibom people. He has given premium to all corners of the state in a manner that no one part feels inferior to the other.
Whether it is the recently commissioned 10.519KM Mkpat Enin – Ikot Ubo – Ikot Ntot – Nkikara road in Mkpat Enin/Ikot Abasi, the inauguration of the 13.6KM Ikot Obio Offong-Nung Ukana (Spur 1 to Afaha Ikot Nkwop) – Obetok-Obongntong -Enen-Nsit Afaha-Udoeyop road, the 9.76KM ancillary road and bridge with additional 2.7KM spur that connects Ikot Eyo and several nearby villages in Nsit Ubium to Nung Obong which adjoins East West Road, or the 4.95KM Oruk Anam road, and the new Primary Health Centre in Oboyo Ikot Nta – Nsit Ibom, what matters more is serving the people in a way that gives them genuine sense of importance in the Akwa Ibom project.
